World Bank, India sign credit agreement

India signed a credit agreement for the $ 63-million Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project with the World Bank, here today.

The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, christened "Jeevika" aims to improve rural livelihoods in Bihar through organising institutions of the poor in 776 village Panchayats covering 4,000 villages in the districts of Nalanda, Gaya, Muzzafarpur, Madhubani, Khagaria, and Purnea.

The project is expected to directly benefit about 2.9 million people belonging to 590,000 households. The agreement was signed by Madhusudan Prasad, joint secretary, Ministry of Finance, Navin Kumar, principal secretary, Department of Finance, Bihar and Isabel Guerrero, country director, World Bank (India).